Thatcham West Town Council By Election

6.17.31pm GMT Thu 3rd Nov 2005

New Councillors Patrick Denys and Jenny Weaving (centre) with Thatcham West West Berkshire Councillors Keith Woodhams and Jeff Brooks

The Liberal Democrats were celebrating a victory in the Thatcham Town Council by-election on Thursday, winning both seats with a comfortable 62% share of the vote, in spite of a national-level campaign from the Conservatives.

Jenny Weaving and Patrick Denys, the two winning candidates, said afterwards, "we would like to thank the residents of Thatcham West for their support. We will be working hard to ensure that Thatcham West is a safe and clean environment to live in, with the facilities that they need."

The Conservative Party took the somewhat unusual step for a town council by-election of bringing in one of their "big names", who is one of the candidates for the leadership of the national Tory party, to help boost their campaign.

As Patrick Denys observed afterwards, "we have silenced the big guns."

One can only dare to speculate on how much either of the two potential leaders could achieve at the next General Election if this is all the difference that their current 1-3 favourite* can make in a Town Council by-election.

Thatcham Town Council By Election result

Steven Aldridge.............412 (Con)

Patrick Denys................686 (LD)

Carl Pearce...............449 (Con)

Jenny Weaving............710 (LD)

Con total - 861 - 38%

LD total - 1396 - 62%

Total vote - 2257

Maj: 237

Turnout : 24.9%

• "1-3 favourite": a recent ICM poll for the BBC of 215 party members put Cameron on 76% and Davis on 24%.